


I have my question.

by atzblurbs



Category: ATEEZ (Band), K-pop
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-25 06:00:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21691339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atzblurbs/pseuds/atzblurbs
Summary: You're ATEEZ's new foreign manager and unbeknownst to you, Hongjoong has feelings for you. That is... until you realize, you like him too.
Relationships: Kim Hongjoong/Reader, Kim Hongjoong/You
Comments: 5
Kudos: 64





	I have my question.

[11:03 a.m.]

Your head was lowered as you were concentrating on the steps up to the second floor of the company. You were already nervous, the last thing you needed was to trip and break something on your first day.

Minjoo, the male manager the CEO had sent out to the lobby to greet you, was leading the way to the group you’d be helping him manage. You thanked your lucky stars he spoke English fairly well even though you could get by in Korean. Since you’d be directly following his orders, it was important to you that you understood everything he expected and wanted of you.

The last flight of stairs came into view now and your legs were wobbly while climbing it. You got to the top, and watched as Minjoo swung the door open to a fairly long hallway lined with more doors.

“These are the trainee’s mini studios where they can practice singing, producing, or do vlives.” he stated.

“I’m assuming the big door at the end of the hallway is one of the dance practice studios?” you asked.

“Yes,” Minjoo turned around, “and we’re heading there now to meet the kids.” he smiled.

Kids, you thought, I don’t think I’m that much older than them.

You sighed loudly to get rid of your nerves but your breath came out shaky. 

Minjoo chuckled, “Nervous?”

“Yes,” you answered honestly.

“Don’t be, the kids are sweet, they can just get wild at times.” Minjoo laughed again.

Oh, great.

He stopped in front of the door, then opened it. In the middle of the studio you saw a line of eight boys who bowed at ninety degrees immediately upon you stepping foot into the room.

“Hello, we are Ateez!” they all almost sang in unison as they dipped and rose back up.

“Hi,” you bowed slightly back, “I’m going to be helping Minjoo take care of you guys.” you replied in Korean while a certain red-haired member’s blinding smile caught your eye. You smiled back and you noticed him lift his eyebrows and look swiftly to the side almost cockily as Minjoo started talking.

Interesting.

“Introduce yourselves one by one starting from Jongho.” Minjoo said.

“Yes, hi, I’m Jongho,” he bowed again, “I’m the youngest of the group, nice to meet you.”

You smiled at all of their introductions when the red-haired boy took a step forward last… “Hi, I’m Hongjoong, the leader of this group. If you need anything from us, don’t hesitate to ask me. I’ll be sure we do everything you need of us in a timely manner. Nice to meet you.” he bowed and smiled again.

Red hair… Hongjoong… leader… alright, I’ll remember that.

“It’s so nice to meet all of you, I’m looking forward to working with you all.” you said.

“Alright, I’m taking her to show her around the company some more. We’ll be back in an hour, get back to dance practice.” Minjoo ordered.

“Yes, of course!” they all replied.

As you walked out of the room and as Minjoo was explaining where things were on this floor before going up to another one, you just kept thinking of Hongjoong and that odd interaction.

What was that look about?

You shook your head to get a grip and continued following Minjoo around for the next hour.

As you headed back to the practice room, Minjoo said, “I have to go talk to the CEO really quickly, could you go back to the dance studio and tell them to take a 10 minute break until I get down there to check their progress?”

“Yes!”

You headed towards the door and entered the room.

They were too busy dancing and the music was too loud that they didn’t notice your entrance so you yelled, “MEMBERS!”

Yunho, who was closest to you, turned around immediately and then yelled, “Guys, stop!”

San ran to turn the music off and then all of them were looking at you expectantly.

“You guys can take a 10 minute break until Minjoo comes back to check where you are in perfecting the choreo.” you said.

“Okay!” Wooyoung replied happily.

You walked to a corner where there was a couch and sat down and pulled your phone out. You were scrolling through social media when you noticed they had walked over near you and sat down on the floor by you.

There was a bit of awkwardness in the air still so you decided to keep quiet until they warmed up to you before trying to force a conversation with them.

“What’s your favorite color?” Hongjoong asked suddenly. You looked up at him from your phone screen and noticed the lights in the room dancing through his eyes.

“It depends,” you answered.

“On what?” Yeosang spoke up.

“Sometimes the day, and sometimes my mood.”

“So then, what’s your favorite color right now?” Seonghwa asked.

“Pink, but not stark pink… like, the soft, baby pink,” spilled from your lips and you noticed Hongjoong’s head perk up.

“Why do you like baby pink right now?” he asked.

“Sorry, you get only one question a day, Hongjoong,” you said teasingly while smirking.

“Okay, I can work with that,” he smiled back.

“Can I ask one, then?” San asked.

“You just did,” you chuckled at him.

“Technically, yes, but I want to know your favorite snack. This is very important to me,” he said.

“Okay,” you laughed, “I like anything, I’m not too picky when it comes to something to munch on.”

“I love it! We’ll get along great!” San replied.

You continued your small talk with the members but could constantly feel a pair of eyes on you. You knew exactly where they were coming from but decided to not read too much into it.

Maybe it was just amusing to him that they had a manager now who is a foreigner?

Eventually, Minjoo came back and the boys danced for him. He gave feedback and then dismissed them, and you, for lunch.

You had packed yourself something and sat in a common room of the company and ate by yourself. You noticed once you were done, you still had about 40 minutes until Minjoo wanted everyone back in the dance practice room, so you decided to explore the neighborhood a bit.

As you were walking around Hongdae taking in the different, yet pretty aesthetic, you noticed a particularly colorful little alleyway.

Your feet immediately pivoted and started the journey down it. You passed by so many different colored little shops. A blue one selling jewelry, a purple boutique, a little yellow colored nail salon, and more. You were getting close to the end when you noticed the last shop.

An orange toy-store came into view and you smiled brightly.

You stood outside staring into the window as one of the male workers was carefully fixing a stuffed teddy bear on one of the shelves. You smiled again at how he used his hand to brush the toy as if fixing it’s fur before sitting it up straight again.

He turned around and you looked up to his face from his hand and locked eyes with him and gave a slight bow while keeping your smile. He did the same back. 

You kept looking through the window at all of the plushies when you noticed a cute octopus.

“So cute,” you said aloud.

“The octopus?”

“JESUS CHRIST!” you yelped while clutching at your heart. You flipped around immediately and noticed Hongjoong. “WHAT THE HELL?!”

“Oh, sorry,” he lightly chuckled, “The kids and I went to a restaurant down the street but I got full before them and decided to walk around. I noticed you in this alley and got curious…” Hongjoong replied.

“Ok so that means you get to give me a heart attack?!”

“Yeah, sorry.. I was kind of just.. observing you.”

“Observing me?”

“Your smile and your eyes lighting up while looking into all of the shops reminded me of when I first discovered this alley.. It’s one of my favorite places to be.” he sheepishly replied while scratching the back of his neck.

A corner of your mouth twitched up at his thoughtful, cute response then hugged your bag tighter to your shoulder as you shuffled past him and said, “I better head back….”

“I’m gonna get you to tell me one day…” he said over his shoulder.

You half turned your body and asked, “Tell you what?”

“Why you like baby pink...” he turned and smirked at you.

“We’ll see…” you smirked back then continued walking away.

[A month later, 6:48 p.m.]

You were stopping in to each little studio to check in with the boys to give them Minjoo’s message before you left work early for your plans. After going to the studio that San, Wooyoung, and Yunho were in, you smiled thinking of how close you had gotten to the guys in such a short time. Especially Hongjoong, you two had bonded on your favorite music, and he really took his “one question a day” to heart. At some point in the day ever since the day he met you, he’d smile at you and say, “I have my question.”

It was always something he seemed genuinely interested in knowing, so it was easy to open up... which led to more questions. It felt like you had known him your whole life. The other guys would always be near and would join the conversations as well and that made it easier to acclimate to your new job, too.

You weren’t sure why but you saved Hongjoong for last. You lightly knocked on the door, “Can I come in?”

“Yes!” Hongjoong answered immediately.

“Minjoo wanted me to tell you all to keep practicing for about an hour then he’ll drive you guys home to your dorm,” you stated.

His head tilted to the side, “Why? Are you leaving early?”

“Yes, I have plans tonight.”

“Going out with friends?” he smiled.

“Uhh, no... I actually have a blind date tonight.”

“What?”

“One of my girlfriends is setting me up with her friend Jaesung. She thinks we’ll hit it off.”

“I see…”

Why is he acting upset?

You cleared your throat, “Anyways, I better get going so I have time to get ready. See you tomorrow!”

“Okay… See you tomorrow,” he replied flatly.

That was weird.

...The whole time you were getting ready, it was in a haze. You almost burned yourself while curling your hair and couldn’t even think straight for a solid ten minutes before trying to put together an outfit.

Hongjoong looked really upset.. Maybe Minjoo scolded him? No, he seemed fine before….. Before I mentioned my date… no way.. That can’t be it. Could it?

You reached in and grabbed a light yellow dress with pretty, green and orange flowers on it. There was a bow at the waist and the length stopped mid-thigh.

Perfect, you smiled at yourself in the mirror after putting it on.

You checked the time and realized you had about ten minutes left before you seriously needed to catch the subway so, you threw your necklace and rings on, and then was putting your earrings in while slipping your feet into your heels.

...As the stop got closer, you could feel this weirdness growing in your stomach. Blind dates wasn’t something you did often and your hand holding onto the subway handle started getting sweaty.

Has to be the nerves.

It was finally your stop so you got out of the subway and climbed the stairs to get out from underground.

You found the small, cute restaurant tucked away between other buildings on the street. Although is was on the smaller side, it was pretty packed so you looked around trying to find Jaesung.

You finally spotted a handsome guy who matched your friend’s description and looked anxious sitting by himself in a corner.

You made your way over to him and slowly stepped up to the table. He looked and made eye contact with you then you immediately bowed and introduced yourself.

He stood up clumsily then bowed back, “Hi, I’m Yoon Jaesung. Nice to meet you,” and smiled.

You smiled back and he walked over to pull your chair out, “Here, have a seat please.”

“Thank you,” you said as you sat down. As he sat back down as well, the light caught his profile perfectly and you noticed a small scar right by the corner of his left eye.

Your mouth twitched up into a half smile while you lightly chuckled.

“What’s funny?” Jaesung asked.

“Nothing, I just noticed your scar..” you said while pointing to the corner of your own eye, “I thought it was cute.”

“Oh!” he blushed. “Well, thank you.”

You smiled at him and then suggested, “Let’s eat! I’m starving.”

...The date was going good. You had exchanged the usual information such as your ages, occupations, hobbies, and some info about your families and friends.

Every question he asked while you two were eating naturally flowed into the next and there was never an awkward silence between the two of you. You were genuinely taken aback by how easy it was to talk to him and was thankful that you found yourself laughing a lot with him.

Soon, the waiter came and collected your empty plates and Jaesung grabbed his wallet from his pocket.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“Yeah, let’s head out!”

Both of you made your way outside after handling the bill and Jaesung seemingly kept staring at you as he was walking you to the subway station.

“What is it? Do I have something on my face?”

He let out a laugh, “No,” he continued laughing, “‘I’m sorry if me staring weirded you out. I was just thinking about something…” he mused.

“What’s that?” you looked up and into his eyes.

“Honestly?”

You lightly smacked his arm playfully, “No, I want you to lie please!” you said sarcastically.

He laughed harder now, “Actually… I was thinking about how to ask you on a second date…”

His bluntness caught you off guard and you unintentionally stopped dead in your tracks. He stopped too and raised an eyebrow out of curiosity.

“I’m sorry, that just caught me off guard!”

“In a good way or a bad way?”

You blushed then played it off by raising your hand up and jokingly stroking your chin as if weighing your options while Jaesung laughed again.

“I’m just kidding! In a good way,” you smiled up at him.

“I’m glad,” he smiled back. “So can I have your number so we can figure out this second date?”

“Absolutely.”

...You two made it to the subway station and as you were saying bye, Jaesung said, “Let me know when you get home safely.”

“I’ll text you,” you replied.

“Good, see ya!” Jaesung said while waving.

Your face was beat red, you could already tell by the warmth, and you felt dizzy as you were walking down the steps into the station.

Your eyes zoned out while you were sat waiting for the next subway when you heard the ringtone to your phone..

Your eyes refocused and you pulled your phone out of your purse to see the name “Seonghwa” written in Hangul as the caller.

Maybe they’re letting me know they got home.

“Hello?”

“Can you come over to the dorm?”

You heard strange noises in the background, “What? Why?”

You heard your voice echoing and figured you were on speaker phone. “Why’d you call her?!” you heard Hongjoong yell then heard glass breaking.

“What’s going on?!” you panicked.

You heard ruffling and suddenly heard Jongho’s voice, “Listen… you just need to come over here. Please. Hongjoong went out before coming home and he’s drunk and keeps yelling about you and breaking things.”

“What? Me? What’s he saying?”

“None of us know, really. He’s just slurring his words, the only thing we can make out is your name,” he answered.

“I’m on my way!” you hung up just as the subway pulled up. Luckily this subway was going the way you needed to but it’d still take almost 30 minutes to get there.

…..You were running up the stairs of the subway exit in your dress and high heels. No doubt getting blisters all over your feet while running through their neighborhood and didn’t stop for even a second until you turned the corner to the boys’ dorm and then saw seven members waiting outside for you.

You stopped running and almost fell over from the sudden halt and noticed all of them look up at you at the same time and just stared at you.

The silence was stifling. You could feel it practically choking you.

“G..Guys?”

Mingi stepped forward, “We’re gonna go to a café down the street…”

“Why?”

“After we hung up with you, Hongjoong was breaking something and cut himself…” Mingi spoke up.

“After he cut himself, it’s like he came to his senses and he just collapsed to the floor and then told us what was bothering him…” San said.

“Is he okay?” you asked.

“He’s fine, I helped him clean the cut. But he’s pretty upset,” Yeosang said.

“Well, what’s going on?”

“Um, that’s not for us to tell you.. Hongjoong should tell you,” Yunho said.

They all started walking past you while your brain was reeling. Seonghwa walked past you last and you heard his feet stop moving just past you.

Without turning around, he said, “Have an open mind and handle him gently. I’ve never seen him like this.”

“...Okay,” you whispered.

He walked away and you stood on the corner of the street dumbfounded.

What the hell is going on?

You entered their apartment building and got into the elevator. The ride up to the 16th floor seemed like it took forever.

The elevator dinged and you walked out and down the entirety of the hallway.

You lifted your hand to enter their keycode and heard the door click unlocked. You lightly pushed it open and you heard it creak.

Walking through the entryway, you caught sight of broken glass in the living room. You kept walking into the house and noticed it in the kitchen as well.

That’s when you heard a slight noise.

“Hongjoong..?” you asked quietly. “Where are you?”

“In here,” he said. It was coming from the bathroom. You walked to the entry of the bathroom and saw his eyes zoned out while he was sitting on the closed toilet.

You took your purse off and coat off, laid them on the floor of the hallway and then entered and sat on the edge of the tub right in front of the strawberry-haired man.

You noticed his eyes finally focus but they stayed glued to the floor. “Yeosang made me come in here to clean my cut and I’ve been sitting here ever since,” he whispered.

“Okay, well what’s going on Joong?”

His eyes snapped to yours, you could see they were red and puffy. “I have my question.”

“Huh?”

“Was your date good?” he asked.

What?

“Why does that matter right now? I’m here because something’s going on with you. The guys seem worried. What is it?”

You saw his eyes flicker back and forth between your own and noticed them getting glossy. Like he wanted to admit something.

His eyes finally left yours and looked you up and down. You saw his sad expression turn into a puzzled one and said, “You have blood on your ankles and shoes..”

You blinked confused and looked down, “What?”

Oh… I do. “Oh, I ran the whole way here as soon as I stepped off of the subway because I was worried about you. Don’t worry about it.”

He clicked his tongue and whispered, “Why would you run in heels?”

“I told you I was worried about you..” you trailed off.

He sighed, “I’m fine, just go home, clean your blisters and rest. We’ll see you tomorrow at work.”

You reached out and grabbed his arm, “Tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s nothing. I just overreacted.” he said as he brushed your hand off of his arm. “Go home and rest,” he repeated before he walked out of the bathroom and into his bedroom.

…..

“I couldn’t get him to tell me anything,” you sighed before taking a sip of your latte. “He changed the topic by asking how my date went and commenting on my blisters I got from running there...” 

The rest of the boys exchanged concerned glances.

“Well..” Mingi started, “we can’t tell you.”

“Why not?” you questioned.

“It’s not our business to tell,” Jongho said. “Just keep trying to get it out of him.”

“Okay fine, I’m going to go home. I’ll see you boys in the morning.” you said.

“Please do. The blood on your feet and shoes makes you look ridiculous. I’m surprised they let you into the café,” San snickered.

“Ha ha, funny.” you stuck your tongue out at him.

“Mature,” Yeosang commented.

You lightly laughed, “Whatever.. bye guys!” you exclaimed as you pushed the exit door open and started your trek while limping.

On the way to the subway, you were staring at the ground thinking about what was possibly bothering Joong so bad.

You were at a loss when someone clearing their throat snapped you back to reality.

“Hongjoong?” His face looked even puffier than before.

“I wanted to catch you before you got on the subway.” he said and half-heartedly smiled.

“Why?”

“I wanted to apologize… I shouldn’t have been so rude to you. I just changed the subject and brushed you off.”

“What’s going on Hongj--”

“With that said,” he cut you off, “I don’t want to talk about it right now.. Please respect that.”

Your heartstrings tugged at that sentence and you thought about how hurt he must be. “Okay,” you agreed.

He revealed his left arm that he had been keeping behind his back, “Here.. wear these home.” He was holding his favorite pair of Converse he had reformed.

You looked up at his face in shock.

“Sit down,” he said while guiding you to the bench behind you on the side of the street.

He bent down and slipped your heels off, put his shoes on you, and then tied them for you.

He stood up and reached his hand out to help you stand back up.

For the first time since you had met him, your heart started beating faster than normal and your face became flushed as soon as your hands touched.

What the fuck?

“Be careful going home, okay?” he genuinely smiled.

You could swear he could see your heart beating through your chest. “O-Okay.” you stuttered.

Jesus christ, what is my deal right now?

He started walking away and waved at you over his shoulder.

You waved back and was wonderstruck the whole way home.

[Two weeks later, 9:00 a.m.]

There was still a bit of awkwardness between you and Hongjoong, mostly due to how you still didn’t know what was up with him that night. You two never brought it up with each other. It was as if it never happened. Not to mention the fact that your heart skipped a beat and red threatened the surface of your cheeks due to his soft kindness.

You had spent the past two weeks overanalyzing it almost a million different ways and you came up with the same conclusion every time.

… You liked him. You had always liked him.

You realized this for the first time two days after he gave you his favorite shoes to wear home.

Not even a moment after your epiphany that day, Jaesung had texted you about your second date and you realized again that Fate is truly the Devil in disguise.

You decided to be honest with him and told him that you realized you had feelings for someone else.

He was so sweet about it and told you that he hopes it works out for you. You felt bad but you needed to not get caught up in some love triangle.

Despite the bit of awkwardness and all things considered, your life had almost completely gone back to normal.

However, today was bound to be a bit weird. It was your birthday and you knew that all of the boys knew.

As soon as you stepped foot into the dance practice room, all eight of them ran towards you screeching, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!”

“Woah guys! Too early for screaming! But, thank you,” you smiled.

“Are you going to do anything to celebrate?” Mingi asked.

“I don’t think so… I was going to just watch a movie and relax at home!”

“Boring and lame,” San sighed.

“It’s Friday! Celebrate with us tonight!” Wooyoung exclaimed.

“Yeah, let’s go out drinking!” Seonghwa interjected.

You raised an eyebrow at him due to the shock of his input and he just laughed at your expression.

“Pleeeaaaaassseeee,” Jongho begged.

“Fine!” you answered laughing.

…..

[1:07 a.m.]

About 25 empty soju bottles, 9 pairs of red cheeks, and 5 members passed out in a karaoke room later, you realized it was a weird day indeed… but you wouldn’t change a thing.

Only you, Yunho, Jongho, and Hongjoong were seemingly still alive after all of the drinking games and partying you had all done in the karaoke room.

“Let’s go get some more snacks!” Yunho cheered.

“Yes!” Jongho agreed.

They both got up to go out to the counter and order more food and both were tripping over the other members. You and Hongjoong giggled at their states but knew they’d be fine.

Suddenly after giggling, you noticed Hongjoong’s face change swiftly as his hands flew up and was tapping his cheeks.

“The alcohol made my face really hot, I’m going to go out for some fresh air, I’ll be back.” he said.

“Okay, be careful,” You answered.

“I will.”

...Maybe it was the liquid courage but not even a full minute after Hongjoong left, your body stood up and was carrying you to outside of the karaoke building. You noticed him down the alley a bit leaning against the wall of the building and how the street lights of Hongdae hugged onto the contours of his face while he was deep in thought. You found yourself wishing you could stroke his cheek.

He sighed loudly.

“What’s wrong?” your mouth spewed out before your brain could catch up.

He jumped, “Oh my god!”

“I’m sorry,” you answered chuckling.

“It’s okay,” he smiled and laughed too.

“So what’s up with the sigh?” you questioned again while keeping the current distance and leaning against the wall too.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said.

“Oh c’mon, we’re both drunk and I more than likely won’t remember this conversation tomorrow,” you said right before hiccuping.

He burst out laughing again, “Well, you might be right about that!”

“So, tell me!” you laughed and hiccuped again.

“I guess it won’t hurt to get off my chest even if you won’t remember..” he started.

You cupped your hand around your ear, “I’m listening…”

He smirked, “I have my question.”

“Okay, what is it?”

“Do you still speak to Jaesung?”

Your breath sucked in. “No.”

He looked shocked, “Since when?”

“I’ve only spoken to him once since the night you were acting strange, and that was to tell him I didn’t think it’d work out between us,” you answered honestly.

“Why’s that? Did you guys not mesh well?” he took a step towards you.

“No, it’s not that. He was a gentleman and our conversation flowed naturally, there was just something wrong. Something wasn’t clicking.”

“Then what’s wrong with him?” He took another step.

“I--I don’t know, just something in my gut, I guess.” you said.

“So you’re telling me nothing in particular was wrong or happened? You just had a feeling..” he continued taking deliberate steps towards you.

Again, you didn’t know if it was the alcohol, but your feet stayed planted where they were.

“Well.. yeah,”

“Yeah?” he cocked an eyebrow up followed by a smirk as his combat boots stopped right in front of you.

He was inches from your face now and you wanted to kiss him so badly but you refrained. “Are you ever going to tell me why you were acting weird that night?” you asked.

He looked back and forth between your eyes. “I was jealous..”

“Of what?”

“Your date..” he leaned forward more.

You stopped breathing and stared into his eyes, but didn’t say anything.

“I’ve liked you since the second I saw you. You were so beautiful, and you had this aura that was charismatic, magnetic, and electric. Even before the doorknob of the practice room turned, I looked up at the door instinctively. It was like I knew you were in the hallway about to come in and I was going to meet someone incredible. Then, the more I got to know you, the more I fell. All of my feelings were wrapped up in you within two weeks. I thought the feelings were mutual… so, I was really upset when I heard about the date.”

By the time he was finished, tears were forming in the corners of your eyes and you felt like you were going to burst. You had to let him know that you felt the same or you would regret it for the rest of your life.

“He wasn’t you..” you barely managed to choke out after you pushed back your tears.

His head cocked to the side inquisitively. “What?”

“You asked what was wrong with him.. He wasn’t you…” you said a bit louder now.

He started moving in towards you even more now and your eyes went into tunnel vision because so many emotions were coursing through you.

“Say it precisely,” he whispered as his bottom lip practically grazed your own.

“I like you, Kim Hongjoong. I like you so much… I’m sorry it took so long for me to reali--”

Before you could finish, his lips crashed into yours with an urgency while both of his hands raised to to cup both sides of your face.

Your body immediately responded, your eyes closed and your own arms raised and locked behind his neck.

He kept pulling away a bit from the kiss and then would return to your lips as if he was afraid this wasn’t real, but you didn’t mind.

Kissing Hongjoong made you feel like you were floating and he could kiss you as many times as he wanted.

One of his hands slid from your face to your waist and he pushed you completely against the karaoke building’s wall and your entire body felt hot.

Right before he was about to pull away again, you bit his bottom lip and then heard a groan emit from his chest before he backed up.

You opened your eyes confused.

“We need to stop before something goes down in this alley…” he trailed off.

“Something?” you asked breathlessly.

“You know what,” he raised an eyebrow.

The sound of the door that opened into the alleyway opening startled both of you and made Hongjoong jump back and away from you.

You both looked and noticed the rest of the members all standing there. You had to bite back a chuckle because of how alive you felt right now in comparison to how exhausted they all looked.

You noticed Yeosang eyeing both of you before smirking.

Then Wooyoung’s drunk ass blurts out, “What’s with the weird tension right now?”

You bit your lip and looked away from the guys to avoid their stares and answering them while Hongjoong cleared his throat.

“Nothing,” he answered.

“Whatever, we need to go home. We’re all exhausted and need to sleep before practice tomorrow.” Yunho said.

“Okay, let’s just go.”

They could walk to their dorm from here, but you had to take the subway, so you all went your separate ways after gathering your things from the karaoke room.

Once home, you were dazed and confused the whole night, barely slept, and even when you managed to get a wink of sleep, all you could dream about was Hongjoong.

How his lips felt against yours and obsessing over when and if it would happen again.

[The next morning, 11:30 a.m.]

You got about an hour of continuous sleep before your alarm went off this morning. Although the memories were fuzzy due to the soju, they eventually came back to you clearly and being around Hongjoong was causing a bit of an awkward feeling to creep over you mixed with a whole lot of tension. You couldn’t stop watching him, and you noticed his continuous looks towards you in the mirror too.

It sucked because you couldn’t even talk to him. Minjoo had the boys doing things nonstop this morning because their fan meeting was coming up and it needed to be perfect.

After another half hour of dance practice, Minjoo gave everyone two hours for lunch and a quick midday break because everyone would need to stay late today for preparations.

As soon as Minjoo finished his speech, you noticed Hongjoong eyeing you then flicking his head in the direction of one of the little studio practice rooms.

You discreetly went into the room and your nerves were so all over the place that you didn’t even turn the light on. You just sat on the sofa in the back corner feeling like you were gonna vomit in the dark.

Five agonizingly slow minutes later, the door knob turned and revealed Hongjoong’s silhouette. You couldn’t really see anything but you noticed him start striding towards you after haphazardly dropping his bag on the ground.

He sat down next to you and you opened your mouth to say something but couldn’t get it out because of him abruptly grabbing your waist, picking you up, and twisting your body so you were straddling him.

His hands slipped under your shirt and gripped your hips as he went in for a kiss.

He’s trying to kill me, you thought right as your lips met.

His tongue easily gained access to your mouth and his cold hands against your bare hips caused goosebumps to rise all over your body as he moaned into the kiss.

Everything was so intense that your brain started blacking out a bit until he pulled back and leaned his forehead against yours. “All I thought about last night was doing exactly that.”

“So why’d you stop?” you whispered into the dark room.

“Because I have a gift for you..” you could hear the smile in his voice.

You smiled too, “Oh yeah?”

“Yup! It’s in my bag.” he said.

You got up off of him so he could retrieve it, and while he was up, he turned on the purple mood light that lit up in the room a bit.

You noticed a small bag in his hands as he sat back down next to you.

You giggled and reached out for it.

“Ah.. wait..” he said while patting his thighs.

Dear god, this man is going to be the death of me.

You straddled him again like he wanted and then he handed it to you.

You opened it up and reached down and felt something plush in the shape of a circle.

You pulled it out and in your hands was the baby pink octopus you saw in the toy shop the first day you met him.

“Hongjoong…” you trailed off getting emotional.

“Do you like it?”

“Of course, it’s so cute!” you exclaimed.

That’s when he cupped your face and forced your eyes to meet his. Your heart was swelling as he smirked and said, “I have my question.”

A laugh burst out of you, “What is it?”

“Why did you say you liked baby pink on the day we met?”

“This is going to sound cheesy so don’t laugh,” you started.

He raised a hand to his mouth and pretended like he was locking his lips shut.

“I said I liked baby pink because I think I started to fall for you the second I saw you, too…”

His eyes got glossy as he pulled your face in for a sweet, passionate kiss.

“Let’s stay like this forever,” he said.

“Fine by me,” you agreed.

It was silent for a few seconds before a growl from your stomach filled the air.

You were so embarrassed and you started to get up from his lap when he grabbed your hips and sat you back down.

“Stop! It’s cute,” he laughed. “Maybe we can do this for forever another day… Let’s go eat with the boys, okay?”

“Okay,” you said.

He pecked your lips once more before you both headed out to the restaurant hand in hand.

… When you got to the restaurant, the boys didn’t notice your arrival at first. They were all so engrossed in eating and talking with one another until Hongjoong raised his free hand and knocked on the table.

It was like something from a movie scene. All seven of them looked up at your faces at the same time, then down at your linked hands at the same time before choking on their drinks and food.

“What?! Since when?!” San shouted while other members were shouting their own questions and praise.

You heard one of them yell, “Finally!” before you got embarrassed and tugged on Joong’s shirt.

“Let’s sit down now please,” you said after leaning in to him.

You all sat and ate and talked for the remainder of the two hour break and everything felt like puzzle pieces falling into place.

… You loved these boys more than anything. You knew you’d be friends with them for life. And with hard work, you planned on keeping Hongjoong by your side for life, too.


End file.
